Snuggles Oversees The Christmas Folk Show

Stan Howe with Snuggles the bear and Stan's sister Audrey with her doll, Peggy. Christmas, 1947, near Westmore, Montana

courtesy of Stan Howe

With the help of Snuggles, a teddy bear made from his mother's old coat, Stan Howe prepares for his annual Christmas edition of The Folk Show.

"Once a year," says Howe, "around his birthday, I get him out, set him on the 78 turntable and we do my Christmas show for MTPR, remembering the long ago days when my mother turned an old black jacket she didn't like into a teddy bear that has been loved ever since."

Snuggles turns 70 this year. But he's in great shape says Howe: "Except for one button eye missing and a lot of the fur rubbed off from a little boy [me] playing with him, he is still in good condition. My mother saved him for me all the years I was off playing music and driving truck, roughnecking in the oil field and going to college. When I finally settled down in Helena, she gave him to me and he has lived in my showcase all these years."

Tune in for The Folk Show on Tuesday, December 5, at 2:06 p.m.

This year,Stan Howe and Snuggles have chosen holiday favorites such as "Joy to the World" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" mixed in with less traditional songs: "Tumbleweed Christmas Tree" (Andy Wilkinson) and Stephanie Davis' duet with Ray Price on "All I Want For Christmas Is You."

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